GENESEE COUNTY, MI -- A $1.8 million grant to install a communications tower in the city of Flint should take care of areas where police and firefighters have little or no radio coverage.

It's also setting the stage for a possible merger of separate emergency dispatch systems operated by the city and the county.

"Eventually, (the two systems) are going to have to merge -- hopefully in the next 12 to 18 months, (and) I'm very supportive of it," said county Commissioner Omar Sims, D-Flint.

A full consolidation would save Flint taxpayers an estimated $5.4 million in the next five years and wouldn't be possible without the new grant-funded tower, city officials said.

"We are seeing this as a step toward consolidation," said Elizabeth Murphy, assistant to Flint emergency manager Ed Kurtz, who endorsed the tower grant application to the state Department of Treasury.

The state announced funding for the grant earlier this month, and the Flint award was more than twice as large as any other funded project.

Construction of the new, 180-foot tower -- expected to be erected at the city's 12th Street public works yard -- was a requirement from the county 911 Consortium for Flint rejoining the countywide 911 system.

Flint split from that system in 1995, arguing that it could dispatch emergency vehicles cheaper and better than the combined center.

But the experiment has been costly, according to the application for the new tower, leaving Flint as a "doughnut hole," forced to pay the full cost of upgrading its communication system while other communities share those costs.

The application predicts Flint would save an estimated $4.1 million in the short-term if it consolidates with the county and $313,772 annually on equipment and operating costs.

Flint's tower application was one of five requests to the state for funding shared-service programs from either the city or the county.

The grant program was developed as a result of a 2011 directive from Gov. Rick Snyder that Michigan communities show the willingness to share services and be more efficient in order to get state revenue-sharing dollars.

In addition to Flint's communication tower, the state-funded programs include consolidation of fire services between the cities of Melvindale and Dearborn, and consolidation of the public safety departments in the city of Grosse Pointe and Gross Pointe park.

"I do know in the state of Michigan the big, key word today is consolidation," said David Ackley, deputy director of the county's central dispatch system.

Ackley said there is still much work to do before the two dispatch systems can be glued back together, including calculations on how many employees would be needed in a consolidated center.

Flint and Genesee County signed a deal in 2011 that allowed the city to tie into the county's 800 MHz communication system and to meet a federal mandate to stop broadcasting its emergency radio traffic over a VHF signal.

Since that time, it's coped with low or no radio coverage in some parts of the city because no towers are located in the city yet.

The tower project "will greatly increase the 800 MHz coverage within the city and enhance the safety of residents and emergency service providers not only within the city, but countywide," according to a letter from Kurt Sopher, chairman of the county 911 Consortium and Davison Township supervisor.

"This project will allow the city to further solidify and implement its desire to rejoin the consortium," Sopher's letter says.

Without the connection to the county 911 system, Flint would have needed its own 800 MHz transmitters, towers and receivers.

Ackley said county and city officials are waiting for a consultant's report on feasibility of merging the Flint and Genesee County dispatch systems.

The study is funded by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and is expected to be completed soon.